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Click on the song titles above for lyrics and songwriting credits
Go Away From My World was Marianne’s only UK EP of the 60’s. Written by Jon Mark, the title track was Marianne’s entry to the first British Song Festival held at the historic Brighton Dome. The competition organised by the Music Publishers’ Association was launched with a worldwide publicity campaign that clearly intended the event to become as prestigious as long-established foreign counterparts such as the Sanremo Music Festival, but spiralling costs meant this would be the festival’s one and only occurrence. The three-day event was televised on ITV, and among the acts competing alongside Marianne were the Moody Blues, Kenny Lynch, Elkie Brooks, Lulu, Helen Shapiro and vocal trio The Ivy League, who had sung on Marianne’s eponymous pop album. Marianne won the first round of the competition but was defeated in the second. Nevertheless, the response to the song had been strong and Go Away From My World, would peak at number 4 on the EP chart. Still, if Decca had decided to wait and release the track a few months later on a 7” it might have given Marianne a fourth top 10 hit that year.
The second track on the EP was an exclusive Donovan composition. Marianne was an acknowledged fan and would successfully cover five of his songs. ‘The Most Of What Is Least’ was the first, written when they became friends in 1965. Aided by Jon Mark’s 12 string guitar it wouldn’t have sounded out of place on either of Marianne’s folk LPs. Side 2 opens with the French standard ‘Et Maintenant’ which was based on a traditional Spanish Boléro. With music by singer-songwriter Gilbert Bécaud and lyrics by Pierre Delanoë, their recording topped the French charts in 1961 and quickly became a standard. The following year it was translated into English by Carl Sigman and was a UK hit for Shirley Bassey, and in 1966, Sonny and Cher took it into the American Top 20. Marianne was the first English-speaking artist to cover the song in its original language, although her version was not released in France until 1967 when it appeared on the European edition of Loveinamist.
Aside from producing and arranging Marianne’s recordings, Mike Leander would intermittently write for her, typically something in the pop style of the day like the EP’s closing track ‘The Sha La La Song’ which would also appear on the B-side of her next single ‘Summer Nights’.